Cheng Tian, Ghost Cicada, One-Ear, and Blood Scab—the three people and one insect—entered a state similar to Phase Space. They could move freely, but the instance scenario had frozen.
At the same time, a series of scenes began flashing before their eyes like a revolving lantern.
More than eighty percent of them were related to Cheng Tian.
From lashing his whip and charging out of the zombie encirclement, to strangling the Vampire Magician, then cleverly using Transformation and the Information Gap to nearly slaughter the Red Demon, and finally finding the right method to slowly grind the Cyclops to death despite the enormous gap in strength between them.
As for the two college students' scenes... One-Ear was doing all right. There was at least a scene of him chopping a zombie in half with firewood, which counted as his highlight moment in this instance.
Blood Scab, meanwhile, only had the scene of being turned into a duck by the magician, flapping his wings as he hopped and fled for his life.
One-Ear had originally felt a little upset, but after seeing Blood Scab's miserable state, he immediately cheered up.
The law of conservation of smiles truly did not deceive him.
Once the scene froze on the Ogre's fall, settlement panels appeared before the three of them.
[Beginning instance settlement.] [Instance Scene: Demon World Village Stage 1, Demon King's Castle Outskirts.] [Instance Difficulty: E+] [Main Quest: Team Mission, kill the "Cyclops." Completed √.] [Side Quest: Solo Mission, kill the "Red Demon." Completed √.] [Limited Quest triggered. Obtained "Demon King's Castle Map."] [Task Completion: 100%] [Scene Exploration: 70%] [Instance Settlement Rating: A+] [Instance Settlement Rewards: 4 Free Attribute Points, 2,000 Chosen Coins, 1 Free Skill Point, Cyclops drop: Silver Treasure Chest ×1.] [Your experiences related to Demon World Village have been archived. If you participate in Co-op with Players who have the same Demon World Village-related experiences in the future, the subsequent plot development will be reasonably adjusted.] [You have obtained the qualification to return to Chosen Space.] [When you choose to return to Chosen Space, you may only take loot that has already been equipped in Equipment Slots or placed in your inventory out of the instance.] [You may now directly sell loot that cannot be taken out of the instance to the Space.] [You may also choose to remain in the instance and freely explore the Demon World Village Stage 1 scenario within the remaining time limit of the Main Quest.] [This exploration will not affect your settlement rating, and loot-carrying restrictions will still apply.] [You may free up additional inventory slots by selling some loot at this stage.] [During the Free Exploration Phase, you may choose to leave the instance and return directly to Chosen Space after remaining out of combat for 60 seconds.] [If you still have not voluntarily returned before Free Exploration ends, a second assessment will be conducted once the time limit expires. You may receive additional penalties from Chosen Space, including but not limited to "deducting money," "deducting attributes," "sealing skills," and "reduced character rewards in the next instance."] [During the Free Exploration Phase, you may still use the effects of "Arthur's Proof," and "Ghost Cicada" will continue operating as your temporary partner Pokemon.] [Your talent, "Game Master," will undergo subsequent settlement after you officially leave the instance.]
As the target of a team-based mission, ninety percent of the Ogre's health had been painstakingly worn down by Cheng Tian and one insect alone. His contribution to the Team Mission was as high as ninety-nine percent, so the attribute points and money rewards were simply doubled. The Silver Treasure Chest dropped by the Ogre had also been placed directly into his settlement interface.
Cheng Tian did not hesitate. He decisively opened the Silver Treasure Chest that had refreshed at his feet. This was the settlement and reward-processing stage, and he planned to enter Free Exploration with a very clear objective: the Easter eggs in the earlier part of the scenario. Naturally, he had to free up as many slots as possible.
However, perhaps because the final Main Quest settlement reward also counted as part of killing the Cyclops, the contents of the silver-glowing chest were pitifully sparse. It only contained one thing—an indescribably strange object.
[One-Eyed Giant Monster's Head: Blue Excellent/Lv1, small shield, magical head. Equipment Requirement: Strength 16. Defense 5 (theoretically, using the shield to defend reduces normal physical damage by 5 points, but whether the defense is broken or not, it accelerates the shield's Durability Consumption). Shield Bash damage: 6–8. Durability: 20/20.] [A magical shield crafted from the One-Eyed Giant Monster's Head, capable of both offense and defense. However, compared to other metal shields specialized for defense, the Cyclops Head was clearly not as durable.] [Strength +4, Charm -2. Equipment-granted skills: "Fireball Spit," "Unicorn Pierce."] [Fireball Spit: The Cyclops's wide-open mouth can spit out one fireball, dealing a fixed 15 points of fire damage. Consumes 2 Durability and enters a 5-minute self-cooling period.] [Unicorn Pierce: When striking with the shield, the horn may inflict a "Piercing Strike." Piercing Strikes cause additional Durability Consumption to armor and may inflict the target with "Bleeding."]
Good heavens, where did this preserved head come from?
Cheng Tian placed the hideously ugly Ogre Head before himself and stared into its seemingly still-living single eye for a while... then leaned closer and carefully sniffed it.
He did not know whether it was psychological, but Cheng Tian felt that the Ogre Head smelled rather foul. Still, it was nowhere near as bad as the smell emitted by the Ogre's body.
Looking at the Ogre Head that had become a shield, Cheng Tian remembered that in the setting of Great Demon World Village, Ogres had changed from one-eyed, one-horned monsters into hulking goblin-like creatures with one eye and two horns. More importantly, the Ogres of Great Demon World Village seemed to possess the bloodline of Dullahan—headless knight demons—and used their own detached heads as magical tools for spitting fireballs.
Other than the number of horns and its skin color, the one in Cheng Tian's hands was basically no different from the Ogres of Great Demon World Village.
Still having no idea what hesitation meant, Cheng Tian decisively added another two points to his Strength. After meeting the head's equipment requirements, he stuffed it into his off-hand Equipment Slot.
It was ugly, but it should be useful.
Cheng Tian also discovered that this thing seemed usable as a throwing template for "Knight's Throw."
One-Ear and Blood Scab could only stare blankly as the fully armed Cheng Tian gained another ugly and terrifying Ogre Head in his hands. The two of them probably had their understanding of the word "newbie" thoroughly destroyed by Cheng Tian.
However, after seeing that Cheng Tian seemed to have finished dealing with his own matters, Blood Scab stepped forward and gave Cheng Tian a deep ninety-degree bow.
One-Ear was a beat slower, but after suddenly realizing what was happening, he immediately followed suit.
"Thank you, big bro!" "Thanks, boss!"
Faced with the two college students' gratitude, Cheng Tian accepted it all without the slightest modesty. As he spoke, he handed back the Whiteboard weapons that were of little use to him.
"I have nothing else to say. I just wish the two of you immortality~"
The two college students stood up and looked up after hearing that. They accepted the Whiteboards with complicated expressions, and the foolish gleam in their eyes had faded.
When the two of them simultaneously chose to immediately return to Chosen Space and were enveloped by the same light that had taken Green Skin before, they both wore expressions of survivors who had escaped a disaster.
After watching them leave, Cheng Tian began selling the items on his person, preparing for the Free Exploration to come.
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